Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 695 Yidao Pavilion Seven Gardens (1)
Holding the small notebook in her hand, Feng Xuxu paced around the room a few times to collect her thoughts before addressing Dugu Chen, who wore a puzzled look. "It’s not difficult to disrupt the troops of Luo County, but, my Lord, have you considered that even if we scatter their forces, they’re still their own people? Although they’re not led by a single general, at the end of the day, they are soldiers from Luo County and it won’t significantly impact them." She paused, seeing her husband deep in thought, his eyebrows furrowed as if he’d hit a dead end. Feng Xuxu thought for a moment and then gave him a hint, "Your idea is quite good, and the approach is correct. What if we inject new strength into the mix...?"
Dugu Chen looked up abruptly, as if something flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t grasp it. What was it? He was certain it was important, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall it at the moment. Recalling his wife’s words—new strength! Where could new strength in the army come from? Since disrupting the army was a viable strategy, then what it lacked was this new... Yes, he suddenly saw the light, his dark eyes shining as he looked at Feng Xuxu, "Do you mean for our country’s soldiers to enter among Luo County’s troops, so that soldiers from both sides are intermixed? Is that it?" Excited, he grasped Feng Xuxu’s shoulders, his eyes gleaming as he stared at his wife’s face to see if he’d guessed correctly.
"Exactly, that’s the idea. After disrupting the army, you can completely switch the commanders, but you shouldn’t bury the talent. It’s appropriate to test their loyalty," she said, smiling sincerely as she saw him overjoyed like a young boy.
"My lady, I will go organize this immediately." Putting down Feng Xuxu’s shoulders, he turned and sat at his desk, pondered for a moment, then began vigorously writing dense lines on the paper.
Feng Xuxu watched her husband, engrossed in managing the soldiers of Luo County, and knew it would take him quite some time to finish. Staying here would be rather boring, and even returning to Yangxin Hall didn’t seem appealing. She remembered Zi Weijiang, the richest man in Luo County, and felt an uncomfortable irritation, like a thorn in her side or a fishbone in her throat, whenever she recalled his declaration, "I’ll never let my mulberry gardens be planted in Luo County." Resolved and somewhat agitated, she thought, ’You don’t want me to plant? Well, I insist on planting, and not only that, I’ll expand it greatly. Richest man in Luo County? Sooner or later, I’ll turn you into a beggar of Luo County.’
Changing her position, she sat in front of her own desk, closed her eyes, and recalled the places she had traveled through from Xueyan Country to Sunset Kingdom, as well as the scenes along the roadsides. After pondering for a short while, she began writing the words ’One Corridor, Seven Gardens’ in bold characters.
The so-called ’One Corridor, Seven Gardens’ referred to the establishment of several estates on both sides of the road leading from Xueyan Country to Luo County. Using the ’road’ as a metric, seven gardens were to be built, one on each side. This would not only avoid occupation of good farmland or mountains but also serve as transit hubs for transporting goods.
The ’Seven Gardens’ were namely the ’Normal Mulberry Garden and Rainbow Mulberry Garden,’ ’Pear Garden,’ ’Date Garden,’ ’Spring Garden,’ ’Summer Garden,’ ’Autumn Garden,’ and ’Winter Garden.’
About the two Mulberry Gardens, there’s no need to elaborate, as both primarily focused on silkworm silk for making satin. Secondary products would be mulberry wine, and lastly, various mulberry products like jams, juices, and dried mulberries. Mulberries were considered treasures, each part hinting at business opportunities.
Regarding the Pear Garden, you couldn’t just have one type of pear, as that would be too monotonous. Since it would be a pear orchard, the more varieties, the better. For instance, snow pears, snowflake pears, sand pears, duck pears, crisp pears, fragrant pears, nanguo pears, goose pears, Xiang pears, crystal pears, and so on. These pear trees were plentiful in the space, ready to be transplanted. When the time came, pear blossoms could be used to make wine, pear fruits could be dried, bees could be kept for collecting pear honey, fruits could be used in dishes or even in pickled foods, which would taste very good.
